The Spirit World

Last week saw the fifth annual gathering of the American Distilling Institute convene at the historic Seelbach Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky. As the trade association for the burgeoning small-scale craft distilling industry, the Institute chose an appropriate location for this year’s theme: whiskey. But the sense of history came not just from the architecture of the grand hotel and its magnificent bar. The buzz among the membership was not merely from the ample opportunities for product tasting. The buzz was the excitement of creating something new. The historic sense was of that in the making.

As whisky critic Jim Murray put it, “I can tell this conference is going to change the way things happen. There is a fascination…. You are the new frontier.”

Where to begin? The conversation among the Institute’s informal board on how to create a definition of “craft” distilling was spirited yet respectful of the need to assess the viewpoint of the membership. The judging panel for the Institute’s product awards, when confronted with the array of whiskeys submitted for the contest, scrapped the original whiskey categories and spent hours and hours deliberating over what new categories they had to devise in order to fairly judge the nascent industry’s offerings. And everywhere one turned, members discussed every aspect of the distilling process, freely sharing their information and experience and loving what they do.

Who are these distillers of the New American Whiskey? While the established U.S. whiskey industry is concentrated in Kentucky and Tennessee, makers of craft whiskey come from all over. Jess Graber of Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey established his distillery in Denver. Ralph Erenzo and Brian Lee make four types of whiskey by the Hudson River under the Tuthilltown Spirits label. Rick Wasmund malts his own barley at The Copper Fox Distillery in Sperryville, Virginia. These three distilleries represent a much larger number now producing or in development.
Of course, attendance was not limited to makers of whiskey. Guy Rehorst of Great Lakes Distillery and (The Spirit World’s own) Sonja Kassebaum of the North Shore Distillery brought their wonderful gins and vodkas. Germain-Robin in California, the first artisanal distillery to open since Prohibition, sent master distiller Joe Corley. It was impossible to overlook Huber’s Starlight Distillery, which hosted the working sessions of the conference and provided demonstrations with their small column still.

The future of American spirits will be one of innovation, variety and craft. As with microbreweries beginning a couple decades ago, some of these distilleries may fail as businesses and others will succeed brilliantly. But as a movement they are breaking the hold that the giant industrial distillers have on what whiskey and other spirits are really about.